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THE RURAL EFFICIENCY GUIDE STOCK 



however, as do young sows and one must use judgment in keeping older sows 

 for breeding purposes and exercise greater care to avoid losses at farrowing 

 time. The feed for maintenance, success with which sows naturally mother 

 their pigs, character and size of litter ordinarily produced, value of sow as a 

 pure bred and the amount of time one has to devote to sows at farrowing 

 time, are factors determining whether one shall depend upon holding over 

 sows from year to year for possibly five or six years or depend upon gilts or 

 younger sows for producing litters. 



Relation of Weight of Pigs to Feed Consumed and Rate of Gain. 



Types and Breeds of Hogs. The following tabulation briefly states the 

 types, breeds and characteristics of the more prominent breeds of hogs in 

 America. The lard type of hog is by far the more prominent on farms in 

 the United States. In a few instances a premium is paid for choice bacon 

 hogs of the bacon breeds, but the larger supply of bacon in this country is 

 supplied by hogs of proper size and condition selected from the numerous 

 lots of hogs of light character that frequent the packing house centers. 



Hogs of the lard type include the breeds that are short legged and that 

 have deep, broad and thickly fleshed bodies. The flesh is especially thick in 

 the region of the back, hind quarters and shoulders and produces pork chops, 

 hams, shoulders, fat pork and lard in much greater quantities than do the 

 bacon types. The lard type is largely of American origin and is the result of 

 selecting hogs that excel in growing quickly and fattening readily on liberal 

 allowances of feed. Turning them to market at six months of age weighing 

 200 Ibs. is evidence of their early maturing qualities. Hogs of the bacon type 

 have been selected and bred to produce long, deep bodies, comparatively nar- 

 row, and are long legged and long in the head. The flesh over the entire body 

 is thin in comparison with the lard type of hog and produces cuts of pork most 

 excellent in quality and highly adapted for bacon purposes. They make a 

 rapid growth without the tendency and quality of fattening possessed by the 

 lard type of hog. Bacon hogs dress 70 to 75 percent of their live weight as 

 compared with 75 to 85 percent in the case of well developed hogs of the 

 lard type. In certain localities of Canada and the United States, considerable 

 attention has been devoted to the breeding of bacon hogs of the specific bacon 



